


In the Making of It

by hotrodngold (Krystalicekitsu)



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Culture, Dwarven crafts, Knitting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-28
Updated: 2013-05-28
Packaged: 2017-12-13 05:39:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/820631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krystalicekitsu/pseuds/hotrodngold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ori was a patient dwarf, and not prone to keeping secrets for he didn't see himself of having anything important enough to be kept secret, aside for the secrets which every dwarf kept, and those everyone of any race kept (those being any pertaining to the heart).</p><p>So it was rather fortunate- for both the dwarf in question and our hobbit- that the first bout of Tookish inquisitiveness was visited on one scribe of the party of Thorin Oakenshield.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Making of It

Bilbo Baggins had been quite the inquisitive hobbit in his youth.

Whether as a result of his Tookish blood, or a tween’s naturally rebellious nature to an overbearing father, none could say, but the young hobbit of Bag End had spent many an evening dogging the heels of travelers in the Tuckbourogh markets, asking questions on this or of that.

It had exasperated his father to no end to receive a pouting hobbit tween from which ever Bounder had captured his Bilbo that evening.

“Why must you ask after  _everything_?” his father would say.

And his mother, laughing, would answer in his stead, “To know about  _everything_ , of course!”

It might’ve been many years past his tweens and many a decade of respectable gentlehobbit behavior, but that inquisitive spirit had never really passed from his nature.

 

Much to dwarvish consternation.

 

 

Ori was a patient dwarf, and not prone to keeping secrets for he didn’t see himself of having anything important enough to be  _kept_  secret, aside for the secrets which every dwarf kept, and those everyone of any race kept (those being any pertaining to the heart).

So it was rather fortunate- for both the dwarf in question and our hobbit- that the first bout of Tookish inquisitiveness was visited on one scribe of the party of Thorin Oakenshield.

“What’s that you’re working on?”

Ori blinked himself from his idle contemplation, hands stilling over his work. “Beg pardon?”

“That,” the hobbit said, gesturing at the thin wire and pair of long, thin metal sticks Ori was currently grasping. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Ori blinked. “Hobbits don’t weave?”

“Oh, we weave plenty,” Bilbo assured him. “I’ve simply never seen it done in metal wire, nor with metal needles.”

“Ah,” Ori breathed, glancing down, “It’s called ‘knitting’, and best done with lighter wire than this,” he hefted a spool of dull silverish wire, “but I need the practice and the gauge will have to do.”

“Yes, yes, but what is it  _for_?” Bilbo asked.

“Mail.”

Bilbo thought about this for a moment.

“You mean that dwarven mail, the strongest in Middle Earth, is made from weaving arts?”

Ori eyed the disbelieving scrunch the hobbit was making of his face, “Yes. The art takes many years to perfect, but even apprentices in knitted arts are revered above most others. My father was incredibly proud when I displayed proficiency,” he added with pride.

Bilbo’s eyebrows went up. “Then, you are making a shirt of mail?”

“Oh, no, Mister Bilbo,” Ori shook his head, “This is simply practicing my weaves and stitches and such. I must keep a very steady stitch, even as I add patterns and designs to the mail.”

And Ori began to explain, unsure of his listener’s interest at first and thus hesitant in his speech, until he fell into the love of talking about his art, fingers pausing every once in a while to point over particular strokes and patterns before returning to their practice.

 The hobbit, for his part, was a most avid and interested listener, watching with fascination as the spool gradually changed into a length of finely woven material, strong and sturdy and beautiful.

"That's marvelous, that really is," Bilbo said once Ori proclaimed himself done. Ori flushed under the praise but was sure to thank him, bobbing his head as he was seated and unable to affect the bow he felt was due to the hobbit in return.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [to tumblr](http://hotrodngold.tumblr.com/post/43183345307/in-the-making-of-it).


End file.
